This week I’m sort of tooting my own horn if you can call it that with this week’s selection. It is a clip which comes from my own video library.
Hollywood Showdown has always been one of my favorite modern game shows. As I’ve mentioned before, I am an avid lover of pop-culture being used as an element in this genre. However, with several shows, the quality is left much to be desired. For instance, I’ve always found Pax’s On the Cover to come off as way too cheesy. I did not enjoy the round with the fake magazine covers. It was just way too corny. Mark L. Walberg was great though as the host. A few years later, I thought I was going to enjoy one of GSN’s latest answers to pop-culture… Starface. And while I actually thought Danny Bonaduce did a rather decent job as a host, in the end I thought this wound up becoming way too sleazy. And when it started being sponsored by the National Enquirer… that’s when I knew that it was it for me with that.
But Hollywood Showdown was one of those shows that I thought was executed really well. I love the questions. There’s also the Jackpot!-esque vibe it brings with the Box Office element (Sande Stewart, son of Bob Stewart we can obviously thank for that). And what’s more… Todd Newton. Unlike on Whammy!, Todd I think is really at his finest here. At a reasonable volume, not too loud or too obnoxious. He has the perfect amount of energy, and interacts with the contestants very well. Which in the end leads me to wonder… if we must keep Mr. Newton on the GSN airwaves… can’t we bring this show back? I doubt we’d see new episodes, but I’d take reruns of this show any day over the billionth cycle of Whammy!.
The clip features a contestant at the bonus “Box Office” round. It’s my online pick of the week for May 7th!
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